Desert Diva

Pam Reed's Run into the Record Books

Reed consumed liquids every two minutes. She avoided drinking water, instead quaffing Ensure, Red Bull, Gatorade and juice. Because her own sweat evaporated instantly, Reed’s crew kept her saturated with water from spray bottles.

At one point in the heat of the afternoon, somewhere between Furnace Creek and Stovepipe Wells, Reed asked Bacal if it was hot outside. She wasn’t delusional; she was serious. "I never felt hot," Reed said.

In reality, "It was the hottest I’ve ever seen it out there," said Giles, who spent five hours bicycling next to Reed. "It was so hot that I couldn’t hang on to my handlebars. Even with gloves on I was burning my fingertips. It was murderous! The recorded high was 133 degrees. That’s just the ‘recorded’ high, not the real temperature out on the street."

Still Going…

Surface temperatures on the black asphalt probably topped 200 degrees. Most Badwater participants experience painful blisters that cover their entire feet. Reed was no exception. Last year she developed blisters around mile 70 and stopped momentarily to drain them. This year, at mile 40, she felt heat and sharp pain from blisters on her forefoot, but she just kept running. Soon, the sharp pain subsided and a cool feeling covered her feet, signaling that the blisters had popped under the pressure of her footfalls. Still, she kept running.

"That’s the big difference between Reed and all the other runners—she never stops moving," said Giles.

"The goal is to get to the finish line as quickly as possible, right?" Reed says, matter-of-factly. "Then you get to sit down."

In an event as demanding as Badwater, walking is as acceptable as running. In fact, most participants alternate between walking and running the entire distance. Not Reed. Of the 135 grueling miles, she only walked 12 to 15 of them.

Ascending the steep grade out of Panamint Valley, Reed was in third and unable to run due to a cramping calf muscle. Bennie Linkhart, a long-time friend and crew member, was walking alongside her. She told him, "You know what, I’m going to take third, and it’s OK. I can’t worry about how fast the other guys are running. I can only do what I can do."

"If you dropped out right now I would still be proud of you," Linkhart replied. "You are so amazing—you’re my hero."

Linkhart got back in the van. Reed started running again. And didn’t stop.